Seafood braise for two at 44,000 won in Daejeon: Seommaeul

Seommaeul: a seafood braise restaurant near Jaundae in Sinseong-dong, Daejeon

On a day when I wanted something hearty — spicy sauce with plenty of seafood — I headed to Seommaeul in Sinseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. It's a restaurant that's held its ground near Jaundae in Sinseong-dong for a long time with agujjim (braised monkfish), seafood braise, and octopus stir-fry, so it's a familiar spot for locals. Curious what a place with 20 years behind it would taste like, two of us went for dinner.

Sinseong-dong is close to a research complex and Jaundae, so lots of office workers and families come looking for meals here, and Seommaeul turned out to be a Korean restaurant well suited to sharing seafood dishes with a group. Rather than a flashy, trend-chasing space, it had the comfortable, familiar atmosphere of a local favorite that's welcomed guests in the same spot for years. The menu had spicy seafood dishes like agujjim, seafood braise, and octopus stir-fry, so it was easy to pick depending on your taste or party size.

What two people ordered at Seommaeul, and what it cost

We ordered the seafood braise, small size, for ₩40,000. We added kalguksu noodles for ₩2,000 and fried rice for ₩2,000, and it was plenty for two of us. From the main dish to the noodles and rice, the total came to ₩44,000. The seafood braise alone would've been filling, but we wanted to enjoy the sauce all the way through, so we added the noodles and then the rice, one after the other.

Seommaeul's small seafood braise: how much food and how spicy

The seafood braise arrived heaped on a big plate, looking appetizing the moment it hit the table. The glossy red sauce coated the seafood and vegetables evenly, and eating it right while it was hot, the spicy aroma and savory depth came through clearly. The sauce didn't just hit hard with heat — it blended with the flavor coming off the seafood, so we kept reaching for more. Picking up the crisp vegetables together with the chewy seafood gave a nice contrast in texture too.

With braised dishes, if the sauce is too thin it doesn't soak into the ingredients, and if it's too thick it can get heavy fast — but Seommaeul's seafood braise sauce paired well with the ingredients. At first we mostly ate the seafood and vegetables, and as time went on and the sauce mingled a bit more, we mixed in the remaining bits evenly. Even though we ordered the small size for two, it was plenty, so we didn't have to rush and could enjoy a slow conversation over dinner.

Are the 2,000 won kalguksu noodles worth adding?

Once we'd worked through some of the seafood braise, we mixed the kalguksu noodles into the sauce. The spicy sauce clung tightly to the noodles, turning into a delicacy quite different from the main dish. Eating the chewy noodles with the seafood braise sauce made for a satisfying meal on its own, and adding in the leftover vegetables and seafood made each bite even richer. If you like braise sauce, I'd definitely recommend adding the kalguksu noodles — you get to enjoy every last bit of the sauce, which was very satisfying.

Finishing the sauce with 2,000 won fried rice

It felt like too soon to stop there, so we added fried rice too. We'd already had the noodles, but it was hard to pass up finishing with fried rice in that spicy sauce. Staff took our bowl to the kitchen, fried up the rice, and brought it back. The savory depth of the sauce had soaked into the rice grains, making it nutty and spicy at once, and even full, our spoons kept going. If the noodles were a chewy way to enjoy the sauce, the fried rice felt like a rich, nutty finish. Having both add-ons, it felt like we'd properly enjoyed a plate of seafood braise from start to finish.

Who should eat at Seommaeul?

Between the small seafood braise, the kalguksu noodles, and the fried rice, it was quite a generous amount for two people. If you're visiting with more people, sharing the main dish together and finishing with noodles or rice would work well too. It felt like a good spread for family meals, group gatherings, or any day you're craving something spicy.

You could feel exactly why Seommaeul has been loved in Sinseong-dong for 20 years — the generous portions and the sauce that's both familiar and addictive. If you're looking for an agujjim, seafood braise, or octopus stir-fry spot near Jaundae, it's worth remembering. This was a local favorite in Sinseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, where two of us left completely full on seafood braise, noodles, and fried rice.